Cloth towel dispensers in which clean toweling is drawn from a roll in a cabinet are common. With such dispensers, the dirty toweling is rolled up in the cabinet between the pressure nips of a pair of rolls operated by withdrawal of the clean toweling, in direct contact with one of the rolls through which the clean toweling passes. This transfers some of the moisture and dirt from the dirty toweling to the clean toweling, rendering the dispenser unsanitary and likely to transfer skin and other diseases to the person using the towel to dry his hands or face.
By the apparatus of the present invention, I utilize a reinforced nylon paper towel rolled on a hollow core which may be cardboard, and separate a clean towel compartment in which the nylon paper roll is contained from a spent towel compartment by a partition forming the bottom of the clean towel compartment. I draw the clean paper toweling in cooperation with towel supply means out of the cabinet through a dispensing opening. The dirty or spent towel enters the cabinet and is drawn thereinto through a slot in cooperation with said towel return means driven from the towel supply means. The damp, dirty toweling may be compacted in the bottom of the cabinet by a compactor operable from the outside of the cabinet and compacting the loose toweling into a slidable bottom plate to enable the spent toweling to be readily removed.
A principal advantage of the present invention is that clean reinforced paper toweling may be withdrawn from the cabinet and the spent toweling may be returned to the bottom of the cabinet and completely isolated from the clean toweling as drawn into the cabinet.
Another advantage is that rolled nylon reinforced paper toweling, which is difficult to tear, may be used and withdrawn from the clean towel compartment from above or beneath the compartment and returned to a spent towel compartment in the cabinet, and where it is desired to tear the clean toweling for use for cleaning purposes, away from the cabinet, a separate piece may be torn and used and the free end of the toweling may then be placed through a slot to the towel return means and returned to a spent towel compartment as the clean toweling is withdrawn.
Still another advantage of the invention is that ready access may be had to the towel supply means, the support for the roll of paper toweling and the towel return and supply means for removal as a unit.
Another advantage is in the ease of placing a clean roll of paper toweling in the clean towel compartment in the cabinet, and in the compactor, compacting dirty toweling into the bottom of the cabinet to be withdrawn in a compacted form.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although other variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.